There are many factors that go into deciding if there is a need for acoustic screens.
Do you have a lot of internal noise? This can include things such as employee chatter, telephone calls, printers and fax machines, air conditioning and other factors.
Are there a lot of hard surfaces? Consider things like hard floors, desks, glass walls, plain walls and shiny ceilings. The opportunities for sound reflection are huge.
How high are your ceilings? Higher ceilings increase the volume in an office, meaning sound is lost in the ‘dead space’ above our heads. They also lead to higher reverberations as sound waves have to travel a long way before they are reflected by a hard surface.
Sound-absorbing dividers and acoustic partitions are effective when used correctly. Their effectiveness depends on the size of the office, the number of people talking or on the phone at one time versus the amount, height and thickness of the acoustic screens as well as the number of panels used.
Its often more useful to use a combination of desk dividers, free-standing acoustic panel screens, wall panels and ceiling hanging panels.
Using acoustic dividers correctly is crucial to the effectiveness; sound-absorbing screens and panelling should be placed where sound waves will bounce back for best results. The panels and screening will absorb a percentage of the sound waves and sound reverberation will be reduced.
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- Internal Noise Pollution
Open-plan offices can be incredibly noisy due to employee chatter, telephone calls, printer or fax machine sounds, air conditioning and other factors.
- Lots of Hard Surfaces
If your office has a hard floor, plain walls and shiny ceilings, the opportunities for sound reflection are huge.
- High Ceilings
Higher ceilings increase the volume in an office, meaning sound is lost in the ‘dead space’ above our heads. They also lead to higher reverberations as sound waves have to travel a long way before they are reflected by a hard surface.